Mary B. Billie has been a dollmaker since she was 17. She learned the skill by watching her mother, who had learned it from Mary's grandmother.

Accompanying note: "Mary stuffs the head with pieces of palmetto fiber. 'If she uses something else like cotton, the needle won't go through that cotton. So she uses that palmetto fiber. Then she would put the palmetto fibers inside the doll to make it stand.'"

"Mary often saves time by stuffing the bodies with cotton instead of fiber, 'since the body doesn't need much sewing.'

"Forms part of series S1577, Florida Folklife Archive, Photographs and Slides of Folk Arts, Artisans, and Performers.